


The Vault

by Akisame8



Series: Horizons [6]
Category: Blake's 7
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2017-09-02
Packaged: 2018-12-23 00:07:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11977953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akisame8/pseuds/Akisame8
Summary: Vila gets a lucrative lock picking commission—but will he doom an entire planet?





	The Vault

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a Horizon 500-word (more or less) fanfic challenge, based on [ this wonderful art prompt by Lurena,](http://www.blakes7online.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=2149) which features Vila crouching before a door with one of his "proddy tools" and looking a bit concerned:  
> 

"I'm not paying you to ask questions—I'm paying for you to _open that door!"_  
  
    Vila sneaked a look at Gan standing next to their belligerent (as well as very rich) client. His fellow crew member only shrugged his massive shoulders with a "Do-what-you-can-do" expression.  
  
    "Sorry," Vila appeased. "Usually when people tell me to open a door they're usually not paying me for it. This is a novelty, really. Quite refreshing."  
  
    "Just shut up," shouted the purveyor of luxury services who also had ambitions for interplanetary commerce. He was also a covert arms dealer.  
  
    "Right, right." While not used to getting paid for his services, Vila was, however, used to rudeness. The client's female companion looked at him with some pity. (Why was she even with this pompous blowhard? Well, greed, of course. Quite understandable.) Nevertheless, Vila winked at her. Gan saw the flirting and rolled his eyes.  
  
    "You're wasting my time and MONEY!" bellowed the blowhard.  
  
    Again, a sad look from the woman and a remarkable suppression of anger from Gan. Far from being encouraged by these two, however, Vila stared at the stubborn door with a growing sense of dread. Oh yes, he could open it—it would not be easy but it was still within his expertise. Only... something told him he _shouldn't._  
  
    It must have been a sudden lock-picker's sixth sense. Something on the other side of the door was... wrong. Vila began to tremble, feeling a peculiar panic coming on. This had never happened to him before in all his years of thievery.  
  
    The mechanism used to keep the... _wrongness..._ inside was infused with strange encryptions he had never encountered before. He could override them, yes...  
  
    But _should_ he?  
  
    The businessman was watching and nearly salivating with ill-disguised hunger, waiting. His companion, who must know something about what waited on the other side, was shrinking back.  
  
    Vila broke out in a cold sweat. He did not understand why he felt this way—oh, if only Cally were here, she might be able to sense it too and she might even understand it better and make him feel less like a fool. And what was on the other side of this door, he knew, was Very Bad. In fact, Vila was terrified.  
  
    He stood up and stepped away from the door. "No," he said simply, astonishing even himself.  
  
    "WHAT?" bellowed the purveyor of luxury. (The woman beside him looked like she might faint with relief.) "I NEED the contents of that vault! _It_ promised—" He closed his mouth before he revealed too much. "Do you know who I AM? I could _ruin you, crush you—"_  
  
    Gan stood in front of Vila then, folding his arms. "My friend said 'No'. I think that it's in your best interests to honor his wishes."  
  
    After Gan escorted the still-shaking Vila away, he asked in confusion: "Why, Vila? The money was good. And Blake was ready to teleport us up with whatever you found in there."  
  
    "Call it a hunch, Gan. You know me, I never get these kinds of feelings. But NO ONE should open that door— _ever."_  
  
***  
  
    Behind the door, the entity screamed its rage. It had been so close to freedom and unleashing vengeful annihilation on the planet that had imprisoned it.  
  
    Vila, of course, was duly reprimanded and called an idiot once more by everyone back on the _Liberator;_ except Gan, of course, and—after she had heard his story—Cally. No one would ever know that he had saved an entire planet with only one brave word:  
  
     _No._

**Author's Note:**

> When I had the idea to write this one, I wracked my brains for an entire month trying to figure out what could be behind the door. I decided that in the long run it didn't really matter—better kept as a mysterious "unknown".


End file.
